The Davidson College Symphony and other ensembles will join community actors and dancers in the gala Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 3-4.

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Davidson College’s music department will collaborate with community dance and theater groups next week on a new event just before Christmas in Davidson: a two-day Davidson Holiday Gala Celebration. The performance brings together the Davidson College Symphony and jazz band, campus choral groups, the African Drumming Ensemble, and community performers for a fast-paced concert of holiday favorites and sing-alongs, with doses of humor and holiday spirit.

Performances are Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 3-4, at 7:30pm at Duke Family Performance Hall at Davidson College.

Listen to an audio preview below with organizers Chris Gilliam and Tara Villa Keith.

Chris Gilliam, Davidson’s Director of Choral Activities, came up with the idea for the community holiday collaboration, borrowing an idea from Northwestern State University in Louisiana, where he taught before coming to Davidson last year.

Chris Gilliam

Gilliam said after he arrived at Davidson, he observed that “many people were not aware of what was available at Davidson. So I talked to my colleagues and asked them about the potential of collaborating on a venture like this so that we could get the community more involved in what we’re doing here, and make them more aware of the quality that we have in the fine arts at Davidson.”

Symphony director Tara Villa Keith said the show will offer something for everyone in the audience. “They are going to hear a melange of all kinds of holiday music, with different settings, with different choirs and singers, soloists, dancers, jazz musicians, African drummers. They’re going to hear a little bit of everything combined into this big holiday celebration.”

Tara Villa Keith

Keith’s orchestra will begin the show with “Spirit of the Season,” from the soundtrack of the animated film “Polar Express.” Other highlights will include a choir, percussion and guitar arrangement of the traditional Jewish song “Ocho Kandelikas,” a jazz rendition of a traditional Christmas carol with accompaniment by Dance Davidson, and a 10-minute stage play, “The Great Reindeer Rebellion,” by youth from Davidson Community Players.

Davidson College Dance Department Chair Alison Bory also is preparing a holiday-themed dance for her students to perform. The festivities will conclude with a soaring musical theatre performance inspired by the traditions of the season.

Gilliam and his colleagues hope the show will become an annual part of “Christmas in Davidson,” which runs Thursday to Saturday, Dec. 5-7 in downtown Davidson.

Tickets are $20 general admission, $15 for seniors, $10 for 18 and under, and $5 for students. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Union ticket office at 704-894-2135, or by visiting www.davidson.edu/tickets. See more about the show in our Events Calendar. 

Listen an audio interview with Chris Gilliam and Tara Villa Keith about next week’s show. Click the play button to start. Can’t see the player or hear the audio? CLICK HERE> (MP3, 2 min., 57 sec.)

RELATED LINKS

In our Events Calendar, 2013 Christmas in Davidson information

Bud Albrecht and Don Edwards of Added Touch.

The jazz duo Added Touch  makes its debut at the Flatiron Kitchen and Tap Room on May 1 and 8, 7:30-9:30pm. The duo consists of trumpeter Don Edwards and keyboard player and vocalist Bud Albrecht.

Edwards is a Cincinnati Conservatory Trained trumpeter who has been performing and recording with big bands and smaller jazz groups since the 1950s. He’s the leader of the Charlotte-based Southern Fried Jazz Band.  Albrecht has been working steadily at the Cajun Queen in Charlotte on Thursdays and Saturdays for several years.

The duo’s two May dates could be the first of a series. Come check them out. And here’s an MP3 preview of the pair. Click play to start, or click here.

The cast of “The Maltese Falcon,” which ran Jan. 10-12, 2013, at Warehouse Performing Arts Center. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Here’s a DavidsonNews.net/ CorneliusNews.net multimedia extra: An audio recording of the recent live reading of the 1940s radio thriller “The Maltese Falcon” at The Warehouse Performing Arts Center in Cornelius.

You can stream the 1 hour and 5 minute show here or download it for later. Listen below.

Humphrey Bogart starred in the film

The radio play is based on John Huston’s 1941 film noir on the big screen, which  starred Humphrey Bogart and was based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel. In it, San Francisco detective Sam Spade tries to unravel – and gets caught up in – the mystery of a jewel-encrusted statuette.

Charlotte-area theater vet Jim Esposito directed the cast of 16 in the live reading. The stage was bare, with only a few props you’d find in a radio studio – microphones, “on the air” and “applause” signs. All sound effects and as well as the actor’s lines were performed live in front of the Warehouse “studio audience.”

Mr. Esposito said the idea for staging an old-time radio program “came to me out of the blue. I was watching TV (can’t remember which program) and it just popped into my head.”

Radio plays on the stage are a hot idea: In December 2013,  Davidson Community Players will produce a theatrical reading of the radio play “Miracle on 34th Street.”

RELATED LINKS

The Warehouse Performing Arts Center: www.warehousepac.com.

Jan. 10, 2013, CorneliusNews.net, “Live at the Warehouse: a ‘Maltese Falcon’ radio play”

From left, Cat Rutledge (as Brigid Wonderly), Scott Slusarick (Sam Spade) and Jim Esposito (director and Archer). (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Listen to “The Maltese Falcon,” as performed live at the Warehouse Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. Click the play button to start. Can’t see the player or hear the audio? CLICK HERE> (MP3, 1 hour 8 min)

Listening notes

That’s director Jim Esposito introducing the show. Andy Harrison designed the sound.  The cast is as follows:

Announcer – Lou Dalessandro
C.B. Demille – Alan England
Lt. Dundy – Roger Watson
Sam Spade – Scott Slusarick
Effie – Aby Pagan
Brigid Wonderly – Cat Rutledge
Joel Cairo – Brian Rassler
Wilmer – Bill Barton
Gutman – Phil Robertson
Polhaus/The D.A./other men – Andy Harrison
Director/Archer – Jim Esposito
Mrs. Burton/woman – Marilyn England
Mrs. Sutherland – Joanne McCarthy
Girl/Betty – Dee Saltrick
Mrs. Johnson/Young lady – Chris Watson

Audio recording produced by David Boraks (editor@davidsonnews.net) for DavidsonNews.net and CorneliusNews.net.